Jaguar XF And XJ Win Top Gear Awards And XF Wins Women's World Car Of The Year Award

SYDNEY – December 15, 2009: As well as scooping two coveted Top Gear magazine awards - the "Saloon Car of the Year" award for the Jaguar XF S Diesel and "Interior of the Year" for the new XJ - the Jaguar XF has also won the inaugural "Women's World Car of the Year" award.

This new award was conceived in November last year and stemmed from the fact the US based World Car of the Year judging panel did not have a single female judge in 2007.

Eight women motoring writers from around the world got together to create the award with judging criteria based on the 'shopping list' that ladies look at when buying a car. This list includes storage space, dashboard friendliness, child friendliness, aesthetic appeal and driveability.

The car's 'sex appeal' was also considered.

Cars that qualified had to be sold in at least 10 countries worldwide. A shortlist of 21 cars was decided on early this year.

Chief Judge, Sandy Myhre, said: "Over the past year the judges have tested 21 cars from the short list and the Jaguar XF was the clear winner, beating the Volvo XC60 by 21 points, which is quite a considerable margin considering some of the cars were separated by one point or less.

"That a luxury car has won the supreme award in the Women's World Car of the Year is an unexpected result given what many in the car industry would consider to be a 'woman's car'.

But all the judges clearly considered the Jaguar XF to be well-constructed, competent, comfortable, and with its combination of sport and luxury it is ideal for women."